JJ Redick slams Doc Rivers over lack of accountability; Patrick Beverley, Austin Rivers defend Bucks coach
The Bucks are just 3-7 since Rivers was hired to replace Adrian Griffin in January.
The Milwaukee Bucks are now 3-7 since Doc Rivers became the head coach.
Rivers joined the Bucks after starting the season on ESPN’s lead announcing team with Mike Breen and Doris Burke, and replaced Adrian Griffin in Milwaukee on Jan. 24. Asked about that slow start at All-Star Weekend, Rivers said Saturday that he originally wanted to wait until after the All-Star break to take over. He told reporters that taking over the team ahead of its toughest road trip of the year was “not the smartest decision.”
JJ Redick played for Rivers as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers for four seasons and took over his role at ESPN, including his spot on the primary broadcast team for the NBA Finals. But that hasn’t stopped Redick from becoming fed up with his former coach’s excuses. He shared that frustration Tuesday on First Take.
“I’ve seen the trend for years. The trend is always making excuses. Doc, we get it. Taking over a team in the middle of a season is hard,” Redick said. “It’s hard, we get it. Just like getting traded in the middle of the season is hard for a player. We get it. But it’s always an excuse. It’s always throwing your team under the bus.”
Redick’s comments came on the heels of the Bucks’ disappointing 113-110 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, an undermanned team near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. Rivers also told ClutchPoints during All-Star Weekend that he advised the Clippers to acquire James Harden from the Sixers, who had just fired Rivers in the offseason.
“They lose to Memphis,” Redick said. “Oh, it’s his players’ fault — Memphis was playing G League guys and two-way guys. And then you look at his quotes over the weekend and now he wants to take credit for the James Harden trade to the Clippers working out? He wants credit for that? There’s just never accountability with that guy. There’s never accountability.”
Patrick Beverley, who was traded from the Sixers to the Bucks at the deadline, called out Redick for his comments about the coach on X.
“This Man Doc actually saved your career. Started you when no one else wanted 2. And u retire go on TV and say that,” Beverley wrote.
Redick, who started 265 of the 266 games he played under Rivers, fired back.
Later on ESPN, Rivers’ son Austin, who played with Redick on the Clippers for Rivers from 2015-17, also called out Redick for his comments.
“For someone who’s ‘not accountable,’ he seems to always be held responsible, considering he’s the guy that’s always fired when things don’t go right,” he said of his father, citing a couple of examples of his teams coming up short in L.A. and Philly.
“It’s strange coming from JJ, and I have some love for JJ,” Austin added. “… But in terms of accountability, what are we doing here? Your best years in the NBA were when you played for him and the Clippers, let’s not forget that. I don’t know if there’s frustration there or if there’s tension there between you — I know a lot of times we had to sit you towards the end of the game due to defensive reasons — but you had your best years as a starter there.
“Our whole system was drafted around you, because you’re a shooter, you’re not a guy that can put the ball on the floor … It’s just very ironic and kind of weird that you have this energy toward him in terms of him never ever being accountable, considering he’s always responsible.”
Rivers, Beverley, and the rest of the Bucks will be in town this weekend when they visit the Sixers at 1 p.m. on Sunday.